The Ping Pong Saga
by Dazcha
Summary: What happens when Trunks and Goten quit martial arts and take up a different sport? Will Vegeta acknowlege his son's decision? Can the boys hope to be successful at ping-pong?
1. Club Activities

Episode One – Club Activities 

"I'm home!" the sound of Trunks returning home from school echoed throughout Capsule Corp. Like every other day, not only did his parents know that he had returned home, but most of the employees did as well. Also like every other day, Trunks was only planning on staying home to drop his stuff off, before he headed over to Goten's house, under the guise of going to cram school, to try out the latest video game that Goten had bought recently.

"Hold it, mister," came the voice of his mother, Bulma, "The school called today…"

"I swear to Kami, I did not start that fire," Trunks pleaded, panic in his voice. Bulma for her part, looked totally confused.

"What fire?"

"Oh…heh heh… nothing…"

"Anyway, apparently you haven't signed up for any clubs," Bulma accused. 

"They're optional, and I have better things to do," Trunks shrugged the accusation off.

"They might be optional, but it's still a perfect chance for you to socialise," Bulma knew that Trunks would do anything to get out of it, "You need some friends other than Goten."

"I have other friends!" Trunks yelled defensively.

"Like who?"

"Well… uh, there's…" Trunks stammered.

"I thought so," Bulma handed him a list, "Of course, being halfway through the term, most of the clubs are full. I've underlined the ones that still have vacancies. The principal wants to know which one you'll be participating in by tomorrow."

"But…"

Bulma shot him a look, not just any look, but _the_ _look_. That same look that made Vegeta have a shower the second he arrived on Earth after searching for Goku. The same look that made anyone with a little something called testosterone cower in terror. Sighing in defeat, Trunks took the list and went through the day-old ritual of faking getting ready for cram school.

*        *          *

"Ikebana? What is this crap?" Trunks glared at the offensive word on his list.

"That's what Okaasan wants me to do," Goten said, looking at a similar list, "Flower arranging… blech."

"All the good clubs are full…" Trunks whined, "What about poetry?"

"Poetry?"

"Sure! 'There once was a man named Ennis…'"

"What about a sport?" Goten thought out loud, "Baseball isn't full yet…"

"No way. If we did baseball, we'd have to put up with Yuriko," Trunk countered, referring to Yamcha's niece, "I don't think I could stand listening to her go through the whole 'My uncle plays professional baseball and taught me to play, so naturally I'm good' routine every day."

"Okay, so we don't want anything girly, or baseball, or anything that will get us beat up… that leaves one club," Goten said as he crossed the rejected clubs off his list.

"What is it?"

"Ping pong."


	2. Tennis on a Table

Episode Two – Tennis on a Table 

"Ping pong?" Trunks questioned.

"Yep. That's the only one left," Goten answered, "Could be worse."

"Can you imagine how Tousan's going to react when he finds out…" a smile formed on the young Saiya-jin's face, "Let's do it!"

"There's just one problem," Goten muttered, "I don't know how to play ping pong."

"Well you… uh… um…" Trunks stammered, "Come to think of it, neither do I."

*        *        *

In another Son household, things were peaceful. Gohan had just put his baby daughter, Pan, to bed and was trying to get back to the TV as quietly as possible, knowing that the slightest noise would awaken Pan.

The phone rang. Gohan cursed in both Japanese and English as he heard the all-too familiar crying of his daughter.

"This better not be a telemarketer…" Gohan muttered as he picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Hey, Niichan!" came the cheerful voice of Goten.

"Goten? What's up?"

"I was just wonderin' if you knew how to play ping pong?"

Gohan resisted the urge to kill his little brother. "No, I don't know how to play ping pong," Gohan replied icily as Pan's screaming increased in intensity, "Now, if you don't mind, I am going to calm down my daughter, who you woke up by wasting my time with pointless questions." Gohan hung up.

*        *        *

"Well, what did he say?" Trunks asked Goten as he replaced the receiver.

"He didn't know."

"Hey, Trunks," the voice of Goten's mother, Chi-Chi made both boys jump, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Thanks, Ms Son," Trunks replied, grateful to avoid having to play Russian Roulette with Bulma's cooking.

"Hey, Kaasan," Goten got his mother's attention, "Do you know how to play ping pong."

A smile formed on Chi-Chi's face. "No, I don't know how to _play_ ping pong," Chi-Chi paused, watching the disappointment on the boys' faces, "I know how to completely decimate my opponents in ping pong! In fact, when I was your age, I won a National Championship for ping-pong. Why do you ask?"

"We're gonna join the Ping Pong Club. Can you teach me and Trunks how to play?" Goten asked eagerly.

"I don't see why not," Chi-Chi agreed, "I think you'd both enjoy the sport."

*        *        *

With one approving parent, there were only two to go – Bulma and Vegeta. Trunks knew that his mother would support his decision, but he had a bad feeling about his father. Vegeta didn't really approve of anything the boy did – school, video games, getting a tattoo of a monkey on his butt…

"I'm home," Trunks called, his normally loud voice barely above a whisper.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Bulma said, leaving the kitchen, "Have you given any more thought into picking a club yet?"

Vegeta joined his mate and son outside the kitchen. Trunks knew that he was just waiting for the opportunity to criticize any interest other than martial arts. He gulped.

"Well…" Vegeta prodded, his eyes narrowing. Although he would never admit it, Trunks _was_ afraid of his father, whom he described to his shrink as 'a psychopathic Troll doll'.

"Uh… I've decided on… ping pong," Trunks stammered, his voice slowly getting smaller and smaller.

"Oh, that's wonderful, Trunks!" Bulma exclaimed, "Isn't that wonderful, Vegeta?"

Vegeta just grunted and stormed off towards the Gravity Chamber.


	3. Dragonless Balls

Episode Three – Dragonless Balls 

The next day, Trunks turned up at the Son household with a ping-pong paddle for his first lesson. As with most of his possessions, the ping-pong paddle was made specifically for him from the finest quality wood by someone who specialises in designer sports equipment. Even Trunks thought this was going over the top, but Bulma decided that if he took up a new hobby, he should have the best equipment money could buy.

It didn't take long until Trunks had mastered serving. Goten wasn't quite as good, but still not too bad considering he'd never played before.

"Okay, let's see what you guys have learnt," Chi-Chi suggested, "Trunks, serve the ball to Goten, and Goten, return it."

Trunks hit the ball at a slow pace across the table, and then ducked as a lightning-fast ball flew straight at his head, hit a tree in the background and felled the tree.

"Okay, Goten, try to hit a little softer, and aim your shots down towards the table. The ball has got to bounce on the table at least once for the shot to count."

Trunks served another ball and Goten tried to return it. This time the ball bounced into the net and stopped. Goten looked like he was ready to break his paddle in frustration, so Chi-Chi decided to end the lesson before she had to admit that her son just didn't inherit her ping-pong skills.

"Man, I suck at this," Goten said, aimlessly trying to bounce a ping-pong ball on his paddle.

"Hey, I'm sure everybody's that bad when they start out," Trunks tried to reason.

"But you're so good…"

"That's because I'm me. Come on, let's try that serve-return thing again," Trunks grabbed a ping-pong ball and hit it over the net, "Ping."

Goten grinned at Trunks' joke and returned the ball perfectly, "Pong."

"Ping."

"Pong."

"Ping."

"Pong."

"Ping." The shot went off the table, causing Trunks to lose.

"Hey, I went pretty good that time…" Goten muttered.

"That's because you forgot about trying to hit the ball and let your instincts do the ball-hitting for you," Trunks explained, "That's why I've been kicking your ass all day."

The alarm on Trunks' watch started going off, "Damn, I've gotta go. You wanna practice some more tomorrow, Goten?"

Goten nodded, waving as his friend flew off.

*        *        *

Trunks returned home and started heading upstairs to his room, running into Vegeta in the process.

"It's about time you got home, brat," Vegeta's voice was harsh, but Trunks could tell he was just putting on a 'tough guy' act, "Get your ass in the Gravity Room, it's time for your training."

"Sorry, Tousan, I have too much homework to do," Trunks explained, "I'll train with you some other time." Before Vegeta could argue, Trunks had run off and entered his room.

Vegeta stood in shock. His son, the Saiya-jin no Ouji, had refused to train. The brat had spent all day learning how to play ping-pong, but he couldn't find the time to train… Vegeta looked almost disappointed for a second, before he returned to his usual expressionless mask and returned to his training.


	4. That's a Paddlin'

Episode Four – That's a Paddlin' 

"So, you want to play ping-pong?" the question was asked by the ping-pong coach, who is called Ruttager, despite the fact that Ruttager is quite clearly not a Japanese name. The question was asked with a degree of sarcasm, as the coach glared at Trunks and Goten with his one eye.

Trunks tried not to look directly into his eye, or the eye patch obscuring the other. Another student had once told him that Ruttager only wore the eye patch to intimidate students, and he had full use of both his eyes when not in school. Trunks had also heard rumours about how exactly he lost his eye. Some students say that he stabbed his own eye with a 2B pencil in frustration when the ping-pong team lost the finals in an inter-school tournament. Others say he lost the eye in 'Nam, despite the fact that he was five years old when 'Nam ended. But most people believed that he lost the eye in a car accident a year ago, since he didn't wear the patch before then.

Regardless of what Trunks and Goten believed, having a one-eyed Gym teacher/Ping-Pong coach glare at you is an intimidating. Both boys nodded their nervous responses to the coach.

"Well why don't you show me what you've got," Ruttager suggested, the sarcasm never leaving his voice, as he gestured towards one of the many ping-pong tables set up around the school gym. It was quite clear that Ruttager didn't expect a couple of martial-arts toughguys to be able to play ping-pong.

Trunks and Goten made their way over to the table and grabbed their paddles. Trunks took a ping-pong ball and served, "Ping."

"Pong."

"Ping."

"Pong."

"Ping."

"Pong," the ball got caught in the net.

"So how'd we do?" Trunks asked his one-eyed coach. He was confident that he and Goten had astounded everyone with their skill.

Ruttager adjusted his eye patch while he thought of his evaluation. "Have you two ever received ping-pong lessons?"

"Yes, sir," Goten replied, flattered that the coach thought he'd be that good naturally.

"Well, considering the fact that you've had lessons, I would be safe in saying that you two are the least talented players that I've ever seen."

Trunks and Goten did that anime falling thing we all know and love. Trunks got back up and looked at his coach angrily.

"What do you mean 'least talented'?!" Trunks almost yelled at the one-eyed man.

"I'll show you what I mean," Ruttager pulled a student out of the small group of dedicated ping-pong players, "See if you can beat this kid."

The player rolled his eyes at being referred to as "kid". Ruttager referred to everyone as "kid" or "guy" or "champ" – it was easier than remembering names, but it sure was annoying. The player served the ball… and it was over. Trunks didn't even see the ball coming. He… lost…

"Your previous coach showed you how to do all the right shots, but failed to teach you the most important lesson in ping-pong," Ruttager explained, "You have to develop your own style. Ping-pong is a sport of uniqueness. You try too hard to imitate your coach's style, and it's bringing your game down. I want you two to stop getting lessons off your old coach – he's doing more harm than good. We meet again in one week. I want to see some serious improvement by then."

On the flight home, Trunks got to thinking. All his life, he had been on top. Even as a child, he could enter any martial arts tournament in the world and walk out with the trophy in a matter of seconds. But ping-pong… this was something he could work towards. Saiya-jin strength and speed wouldn't be any good to him on that table, but with practice, he could work towards becoming good at ping-pong.

*        *        *

Pop… pop… pop… [A/N: It was the closest thing I could think of to the noise a ping-pong ball would make] 

Vegeta woke up to hear a noise in the kitchen. He listened for a few minutes before getting up and storming downstairs, wondering what the hell could possibly make such an annoying noise. When he got to the kitchen, he saw the kitchen table had been pushed right up against a wall, and Trunks was at it, hitting a ping-pong ball against the table, so that it would bounce up, hit the wall, and come back towards him. Vegeta approached his son and saw the concentration on his face.

_I suppose it would be cruel to break his concentration, _Vegeta thought as a small ki blast destroyed the ball. "Get back to bed, brat," Vegeta growled, "There's a tournament coming up soon, and you need to train."

"I quit," Trunks said calmly.

"NANI?"

"I quit. There's no fun in being the best, and no one in those tournaments ever comes close to beating me, so I quit."

*        *        *

"…And then he dragged me into the gravity room and beat the crap out of me for three hours," Trunks told Goten the next day before serving the next ball, "Ping."


	5. The First Tournament

Episode Five – The First Tournament 

For the next few weeks, Trunks and Goten lived and breathed ping-pong. They would train non-stop. In addition to the weekly training with Ruttager and the other students who play ping-pong, Trunks and Goten would play against each other at every chance they got. And when Goten wasn't around, Trunks would hit balls from the kitchen table onto the wall for practice.

After hearing the way Vegeta reacted, Goten was a little nervous about telling his family that he was quitting martial arts to play ping-pong, but he needn't have worried. Chi-Chi, naturally, was happy to hear that Goten no longer had an interest in martial arts. Gohan sat there in stunned silence and stared at Goten, before agreeing that having an outside interest was a good thing.

As a matter of fact, there was only one person who didn't like the thought of Trunks and Goten playing ping-pong – Vegeta. He started destroying Trunks' paddles whenever he saw the teenage boy training, and it got to the point where Trunks would train only at night whenever he knew Vegeta was at home.

Except that didn't work, because Vegeta could still hear the balls flying around the kitchen and would keep Bulma awake for hours on end by pacing back and forth in the bedroom, muttering about the "damn brat betraying his Saiya-jin heritage."

"You know, Vegeta, I think you're jealous of Trunks," Bulma stated matter-of-factly on one such night, "You were forced to fight from the time you were a child, and I think you resent the fact that Trunks has a choice."

Vegeta shot his wife a glare that could freeze the Sun, "I resent the fact that Trunks has taken up a sport for complete losers and wimps, a sport that requires no technique and no speed."

"Whatever, just stop destroying his things. Break another paddle and find somewhere else to sleep," Bulma rolled her eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

*        *          *

Orange Star High School is a very expensive and exclusive private school. Naturally, the Briefs could afford to send Trunks there, and Gohan was, in his days as a student, able to go thanks to a scholarship. Despite his rather average intelligence, Goten also became a student, thanks to a new scholarship funded by Capsule Corp (also known as a rather large bribe). Being a private school, Orange Star prides itself on its excellence in many areas, and sport is no exception.

One of the oddest achievements that Orange Star bragged about was ping-pong. Orange Star has an excellent ping-pong squad who have held the Inter-School championship for quite a few years running now. Being one of the few sports that Orange Star can win easily without bribing officials or bringing in college ringers, it is no surprise that ping-pong tournaments are a big thing in the school, with every student encouraged to attend and support the squad.

Such a tournament was being held just two months after Trunks and Goten quit martial arts. This tournament would have all members of the Orange Star ping-pong squad competing, with the first place, second place and two equal third places being the official squad that would represent the school in the inter-school championships next month. Bulma was so excited that she hired a bus to transport all her friends to the tournament, which was to be held at the school gym. While all the adults talked about boring things and made really lame jokes, Trunks and Goten sat quietly in the back of the bus, wearing the official sports uniform of Orange Star, which consisted of a black t-shirt with "Orange Star" written on the front in white text and white shorts. Of course, nobody wears such a uniform until major sporting events, when they are forced to, lest they get disqualified.

Gohan glanced back from his seat in the bus to where Trunks and Goten were sitting. Goten was staring at the floor, while Trunks was absently hitting a ping-pong ball into the air with his paddle (like one of those ball and string games minus the string). He correctly guessed that Goten was nervous about the tournament, but incorrectly guessed that Trunks was also feeling nerves.

"Hey, don't worry guys," Gohan offered reassuringly, "You'll do great."

'Of course you'll do great," Chi-Chi stated from the 'co-pilot' seat of the bus, "You two are unstoppable."

Goten offered a nervous smile as a reply, but Trunks was miles away. He wasn't like Goten – he doesn't get nervous before these things – but there was something bothering him. The bus was full of family and friends – his grandparents, Gohan, Videl (and baby Pan of course), Yamucha, Krillin, #18, Marron… even the normally anti-social Piccolo was riding in the bus. But one person was missing, and with the absence of that one person, the bus may well have been empty for Trunks.

When he was warming up before his match, Trunks used his ability to track ki to find the missing person. He was at Capsule Corp, no doubt training. The ki was slowly getting stronger and stronger, but Trunks knew that it was still nowhere near its peak. After a quick pep talk by Coach Ruttager, which Trunks didn't listen to a word of, Trunks stepped up to the table, not taking his mind of the ki. He glanced at where his family and friends were sitting in the throng of people and half-expected to see the flare of black hair that was missing, but it wasn't there, so he went back to tracing its ki. A sudden flare of ki distracted Trunks, and the ball went whizzing past his head…

*        *          *

"Don't worry, guys, you'll win the next one," Krillin offered his condolences to both the boys on the way home. Goten was lucky enough to make equal fifth, just missing out on representing the school by one round, but Trunks was so distracted that his first-round opponent beat him without Trunks getting a single point (or serve for that matter) in.

"Hey, Trunks," Goten spoke up later that evening when the bus was pulling into Capsule Corp. By this time, everyone except for the Sons and the Briefs had been dropped off home – the Sons were staying at Capsule Corp that night because they lived so far away, "What happened out there? You play much better than that."

"Nothing happened, Goten, I just… got a little nervous," Trunks replied unconvincingly, "I wasn't expecting so many people to turn up."

Bulma shook her head from the driver's seat. She knew what really went on, and so did everyone else on the bus. A glance at Chi-Chi, then at Gohan and Videl, confirmed it. Something had to be done about Vegeta.


	6. A Second Chance

Episode Six – A Second Chance 

Chaos reigned in Bulma's Capsule Corp home that night. As Gohan tried to calm his distraught daughter down, Videl, Chi-Chi and Bulma were all yelling simultaneously at Vegeta. Vegeta was yelling back whenever he could get a word in, and despite the fact that they were at the other end of the house, Trunks and Goten could hear almost every word of their conversation.

Not that they were trying to listen. They were in fact in the games room of Trunks' house, playing ping-pong to try and ignore what was going on outside. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.

"You could try supporting him, Vegeta! You should have seen how upset he was at the tournament…"

"I would support him if he'd do something worth supporting! That school offers wrestling, football, kendo and judo. But of course, Trunks had to pick a sport for complete losers like ping-pong!"

Trunks tried to block the conversation out as he got ready to deliver a serve to Goten…

"A sport for a complete loser…" 

_No, don't think about it, just serve._

_"Complete loser…"_

_Hit the ball!_

_"Complete…"_

_HIT IT!_

_"Loser…"_

Knock that ball into the middle of next week! 

"Ow! Hey, watch it, Trunks," Goten complained, snapping Trunks out of his semi-dazed state. Trunks looked at his friend to see him holding his nose in pain – the ball obviously hit Goten on the nose a little too hard.

"Sorry, Goten."

"That was the best I've ever seen you play, Trunks," Goten muttered, touching his nose gingerly, making sure it wasn't broken, "I could barely keep up, but you weren't even paying attention to the game, were you?"

"I guess not. You know, I've decided that I don't care anymore. I don't care if Tousan hates me because I play ping-pong. I like ping-pong, and I'm going to keep playing it. And I'm going to become the best player ever, whether Tousan likes it or not!"

*        *          *

Trunks had decided to play ping-pong regardless of what his father thought about it, and life became peaceful in Capsule Corp once again. Trunks and Vegeta weren't talking to each other, but they also rarely saw each other, because Vegeta had started doing even more training than he usually did.

"I'm telling you, Chi-Chi, I can't take this any longer!" Bulma complained to her friend a while later, "Trunks and Vegeta haven't spoken a word to each other since that tournament. It can't be good."

"Maybe so, but look on the bright side," Chi-Chi offered her take on things, "Trunks and Goten haven't gotten in trouble at school since they started playing ping-pong. Besides, less confrontation between Trunks and Vegeta means less furniture and priceless ornaments blown up."

Bulma thought about this for a moment. "I suppose you're right, Chi-Chi. I just wish Vegeta would stop being such an ass."

*        *          *

It was only a matter of weeks before the prestigious Orange Star High School faced it's first opponents in the nationals – the less-than-prestigious Satan City High School, a government school located right near a statue of our hero and saviour, Mr Satan. The playoff would be held at Satan City High, so the entire Orange Star ping-pong squad was crammed into a small bus to give support to the visiting team.

The tournament is played as follows – each of the four members from each squad play a singles match against an opponent. The team with the most wins after the fourth match moves on to the next round. In the case of a draw, a random player from each team is selected to play a decider match. Normal ping-pong rules are in play for the matches, with the winner being the first to seven points [A/N: I just pulled that figure from my butt, so it may not be right. I do know how to play ping-pong; I just don't know how many points it takes to win].

"Man, this is creepy," Trunks whispered to Goten as they wandered the corridors of Satan City High.

"Yeah, I know," came the reply, "These people look like they're going to jump us any minute… and this school doesn't even have a uniform!"

It wasn't long before Trunks and Goten were seated, ready to watch the action. Since neither Trunks nor Goten are playing in this tournament, I won't go into detail about the results. But in the end, Orange Star High won 3-1. The important thing to note, however, is that one of Orange Star High's players got injured when he slipped on the overly waxed floor of the gym and would not be able to play in the remainder of the championship. Before boarding the bus to go back to school and learn something that will actually aid people in later life, Coach Ruttager spoke briefly with the squad.

"Okay, guys, it appears that Atsushi won't be able to play in future rounds of the championship," Ruttager glared at his squad with his one eye, as if it were their fault, "So we need a fourth player before the end of the month, which is when the next match is being played. So this week instead of training, we will have a small, private tournament to decide on the fourth. It might be a good idea for _some_ of us," Ruttager cast a glance at Trunks, "to get some training in before then."

Trunks was embarrassed by being singled out, but still cast an excited glance at Goten. They had a second chance!


End file.
